194 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



It is impossible to arrive at any satisfactory figures as to the 

 average yield per man on the wheat farms of different countries ; 

 but there are numerous cases in the western part of the United 

 States, of men who have averaged upwards of 2000 bushels of 

 wheat per year over a period of years. Nothing like this result 

 can be shown in any country which follows the methods of in- 

 tensive cultivation. According to Dr. L. G. Powers, expert in 

 charge of the agricultural statistics of the twelfth and thirteenth 

 censuses, 9,000,000 agricultural workers in the United States 

 produce almost half as much grain as 66,000,000 in Europe. 

 They who look upon the yield per acre as the test of good agri- 

 culture are accustomed to compare us unfavorably with those 

 countries. But we need not feel humiliated in the least when 

 we understand that the product per man is the real test. 



Again, it has been shown by the census figures that the 

 average yield of corn per acre is greater in Massachusetts than 

 in either Illinois or Iowa ; but this does not signify that Massa- 

 chusetts is a better corn state, or that corn growing is carried 

 on more economically in Massachusetts than in those two great 

 corn-producing states. 



Adequate capital necessary. Since tools and machinery are 

 almost universally regarded as labor-saving devices, it is scarcely 

 necessary to say that an adequate supply of such devices is 

 necessary to secure the maximum economy of labor. However, 

 the term " labor-saving device " is not in every respect a suitable 

 one. The terrn " product-increasing device " would sometimes 

 be better. However, if it is clearly understood that tools save 

 labor in the sense of enabling the worker to do more and better 

 work than he could otherwise do, and to get a larger product 

 with the same labor, there can be no possible objection to 

 calling tools labor-saving devices. 



To what an extent farm machinery has increased the effec- 

 tiveness of labor in the growing of our leading crops is shown 



